Common Grounds

COMMON GROUNDS

Common Grounds is a small cafe set in the historic town of Morpeth, a short drive from Maitland in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. The cafe itself is situated near the bank of the Hunter River and the picturesque Morpeth Bridge.

As a new business, Common Grounds required a modern brand that could stand out from the established mood of the historic town - a town where shop awnings and signage have maintained a quaint old worldliness for many years with few changes.

Pocket Design were approached to position the new cafe in a modern marketplace that would attract a new audience but also compliment the surrounding history of the region and its community.

Learn more about the project

The client was briefed on a concept that would stay true to the traditions of Morpeth. Pocket Design is a studio dedicated to the art of hand-crafted typography and traditional methods of design. With this in mind, we set out to create a hand-drawn logo that was minimal in appearance yet maintained links to the history of Morpeth.

Using the locality as our main inspiration, we looked to the bridge that makes for a distinctly prominent landmark and a popular sight to the many picnicking families and individuals visiting the area. The bridge itself is the oldest Allan Truss Road Bridge still in use to this day. Within this design is a crisscrossing pattern of beams. This structural feature was applied to the design of the Common Grounds logo as seen in the shape of the letter ‘M’.

This symbol was then applied to the Common Grounds logo mark; a small representation of the bridge and it’s reflection in the still water of the calm river beneath. Whilst keeping the relative appearance of the logo clean and minimal, we were able to use this subtle reference of the bridge design to maintain a recognisable simplicity across the entire brand.